In his 22nd appearance at the FBR Open at TPC
Scottsdale, an event known for its youthful, boisterous and loose galleries,
48-year-old Kenny Perry finally worked his way into the winner's circle and
catapulted himself into the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings.
With a 22-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole, Perry outlasted a game Charley Hoffman to pick up his 13th career PGA Tour victory and a check for more than $1 million dollars.
The win is Perry's fourth on the PGA Tour in the past two seasons; in 2008, he won the Memorial Tournament, the Buick Open and the John Deere Classic on his way to earning a spot on the 2008 Ryder Cup squad that defeated the Europeans at Valhalla.
Here's a look at the final moments of the 2009 FBR Open from the lens of Bruce Yeung, a celebrated photographer based out of the Phoenix area who has worked for the likes of Sports Illustrated. The photos are joined by some sound bites from the 2009 FBR Open champion. Enjoy.
Perry on the victory:
"What a great way to win. To get my 13th event at my age, to set goals and to start seeing some goals come together, it's been pretty neat this last year and a half."
On the playoff:
"The playoff was ugly. We were hitting it everywhere, having to scramble from all over the place. But that was neat for me to make a putt - that's probably the first putt I've ever made to win. Those are the putts you think about when you're a kid; you're on the putting green saying, "This is to win the Masters" or whatever, and I finally made one. It took me a long time to do it."
On the 16th Hole:
"I had everything - I had a couple comments called at me, and you kind of have to bite your tongue a little bit and just go on and hope you hit a good shot. I did see a stat that pumped me up. I think I've got the lowest score on that hole. I've played it 74 times and I'm like 13-under on it. I really enjoy coming into that hole. I have a lot of confidence on it. But for once a year, it's alright. I enjoy playing it."
On getting to 20 wins:
"Ryder Cup last year was an unrealistic goal if you really think about it. I'm 100 and something in the world at the time; pretty much I had to do something magical, and I did. I won three out of five tournaments in the middle of the summer. All of a sudden, I jumped right on the Ryder Cup team. That kind of spurred me on. So I set a goal out there that's probably unrealistic and unreachable, but yet here I am. I'm only seven away now, not eight. So you never know."